Prairie farmers to plant record canola crop

Canola seeding will be a record in all three Prairie provinces this year, Statistics Canada says.

The number of planted acres dedicated to canola will be a record this year, with prairie crop seeding figures suggesting a strong recovery from last year's flooding that hits parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Preliminary data from Statistics Canada indicate that as of three weeks ago, farmers have seeded, or were planning to seed, 21 million acres of canola across the three Prairie provinces — up almost 13 per cent from the previous year.

Farmers in Saskatchewan reported they were planting 11.1 million acres of canola, topping 2011's record of 9.8 million acres. In Manitoba, canola seeding was at a record high of 3.5 million acres, up almost 25 per cent from 2011. In Alberta, the area seeded with canola increased to a record high of 6.5 million acres.

"Overall, the area seeded to field crops in 2012 returned to levels seen prior to the 2011 floods in parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan," Stats Can said in a release. "Farmers in these two provinces reported significantly fewer summerfallow acres."

Still, the federal agency noted that seeding in some parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan was delayed by rain and lingering wet conditions from 2011.

Prairie farmers also planted more wheat, barley, and dry field peas, while farmers on Ontario and Manitoba were seeding more acres with soybeans and corn for grain.